If you read my blog, you know that I often will try to honor a person or persons and recognize the significance of special holidays. I’ve done that with Memorial Day before. A friend posted a list of the number of deaths in past wars shown in the photo above.
For this Memorial Day, first a bit of history about the holiday. According to Google (who else), here are some of the over 1 billion hits about “Memorial Day. I’ll just quote the Google text.
From marco.com (news) web site:
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for U.S. soldiers who died in military service. It was first observed in 1868, when flowers were placed on graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. It later changed from honoring the dead from the Civil War to honoring the dead from all American wars.
Unknown source (information that I Googled)
“It is a day for honoring the men and women who have died while on duty with the US military and it is a day where Americans across the country pay their respects, often by visiting military cemeteries or memorials.
On Memorial Day you can honor the fallen by attending memorial services within your community or laying flowers and planting flags on graves at your local Veterans cemetery. Veterans Day is an opportunity to do the same, but it is also an appropriate time to show your appreciation to Veteran friends and family.”
Here is a link to the Home for our Troops blog that I liked that explains the differences between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. I’m adding the following (from the unknown source) in case you still aren’t sure of how the two holidays differed.
“Unlike Memorial Day, Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans—living or dead—but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime.”
Because the holiday we’re celebrating on May 31 is Memorial Day, you may be wondering why I’m belaboring the difference between the Memorial Day and Veterans Day holidays. I don’t mean to diminish the ultimate sacrifice made by fallen veterans, but I wanted to shift the focus a bit and remind people that many living veterans need attention.
I just finished a book by Philip Caputo, Hunter’s Moon. It’s a good read. In the last chapter of the book, he writes about a veterans wellness center in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Caputo’s wellness center is fictional, but there are many real centers that treat veterans with problems such as PTSD.
I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version of Caputo’s fictional wellness retreat for veterans. The tag line on the web site read: “Renewal and Empowerment for Veterans”. The veterans met on four separate weekends to be mentored by other vets. The “therapy sessions” were interesting if not over the top. The veterans were welcomed in a drum ceremony and later encouraged to let go of their war experiences and to build a dream of a new life.
Veterans and families of veterans deserve our full attention and respect. Here’s something you might want to try, just saying, or at least think about it. The next time you meet a veteran, it’s OK to say “Thank you for serving”, but if possible go beyond that and ask them about their service – ask them where and when they served and just let them talk. Granted some veterans may not want to talk about their experiences, which you should respect.
I’m closing with a Bruce Springsteen song. I chose it mainly because I was going through my pre-Vietnam training in 1969.
Bruce Springsteen: Summer of 69
I’m going to end with a quote, actually it’s a bumper sticker that I saw on a neighbor’s car.
“Except For Ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism, And Communism, WAR Has Never Solved Anything.”
blazinbernie
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